TOYOTA CELICA GT-FOUR ST185

The Group A Toyota Celica GT-Four RC/ST185 made its competition debut on the Monte Carlo Rally, the opening round of the 1992 World Rally Championship series, the beginning of a competition history that was to be even more successful than its illustrious predecessor, the ST165.

It took great skill and ingenuity on the part of the designers and engineers tasked with developing the ST185 to come up with a machine capable of meeting all the performance and handling demands of international rallying. The finished product was named the “Carlos Sainz Edition” in honour of the achievements of the celebrated Spanish driver, who in 1990 had become Toyota’s first world rally champion.

In order to meet the homologation requirements for Group A competition, 5,000 GT-Four RC production versions of the Celica were manufactured and sold in Europe,AustraliaandJapan. This model was a logical development from the regular road-going Celica coupe, and was introduced in September 1989.

In competition, the ST185 did not enjoy immediate success and Toyota’s engineers had to cope with a series of problems until mid-way through the year, when modifications to the suspension and powertrain allowed the car to show its full potential on the Catalunya Rally.

For the 1992 season,Toyota’s campaign was spearheaded by Sainz, partnered by Luis Moya, and Armin Schwarz, co-driven by Arne Hertz. Sainz recorded four victories and claimed his second WRC driver’s title. In the manufacturers’ championshipToyotawas placed second, an encouraging result which raised hopes for an even better performance in the coming year.

The ST185 entered 1993 with a new livery, the green and red corporate colours of lead sponsor Castrol. A more significant change was the move from Pirelli to Michelin tyres, which succeeded in improving performance. There was a change of drivers, too, with triple World Champion Juha Kankkunen joining the team, along with Didier Auriol.

By claiming its sixth victory of the season at the Rally Australia,Toyota at last achieved its long-held ambition of claiming the WRC manufacturers’ championship. This in no way diminished the team’s determination to gain further success: a new traction control system was tested at the 1,000 Lakes Rally, demonstrating Toyota’s commitment to seeking the best in advanced technologies. Kankkunen amassed five wins to take his fourth drivers’ title, 23 points clear of the field. The run of success included aToyota1-2-3-4 finish in the Safari Rally.

In 1994 the ST185 continued its dominance of the WRC, with Didier Auriol becoming the first Frenchman to take the driver’s title and Toyota winning its second consecutive manufacturer’s championship.

The car featured at the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed was rebuilt in 2001 with a right-hand drive bodyshell. The engine, gearbox and all suspension components were sourced from an ex-Team Toyota Europecar that had competed on Scandinavian rounds of the World Rally Championship.

The car is owned by Gary Le Coadou, and is believed to be the only ex-words ST185 still competing in theUK.